Oppo Find 5 Photos and Specs Allegedly Leak (More)

Chinese mobile phone maker Oppo has been recently rumored to plan the release of a new Android-based smartphone on the market, one that would pack a large, 5-inch touchscreen display, and which will sport the name of Oppo Find 5.

No official info on the device has been provided as of now, although leaks on this phone abundantly emerged on the web, but it appears that we’re finally nearing its official launch date. Moreover, it seems that there will be a white flavor of the smartphone as well, and a new photo with it available via CNMO appears meant to prove that, though the outer design of the handset appears different from the black version we’ve seen before, suggesting that this could be another phone from the company. However, the rumored specs for this device are said to have remained unchanged, including the large full HD touchscreen display that the new phone was rumored with right from the start. The upcoming Oppo Find 5 is said to be en-route to shelves with a Qualcomm APQ8064 quad-core processor inside, complemented by 2GB of RAM, and 16GB or 32GB of internal memory.

Its screen is said to arrive with a 441 ppi pixel density (a 1920×1080 resolution), similar to that of HTC’s alleged DLX phablet that made it to the headlines earlier today. Oppo Find 5 should hit the market with a 12-megapixel photo snapper on the back, capable of recording videos in full HD resolution, as well as with a 2MP camera on the front, a great option when it comes to making video calls. Android 4.1 Jelly Bean is rumored to be powering this handset, which should go along pretty nicely with the full Aluminum alloy chassis it is said to sport. As thin as the already made available Oppo Finder, the new handset should make an official appearance in the near future, CNMO has it, yet a specific release date for it is not available as of yet.

Oppo to launch a white flavor of Find 5 too
Image credits to CNMO

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AT&T’s Nokia Lumia 920 with Downgraded Battery Performance

AT&T is the exclusive wireless carrier of Nokia Lumia 920 in the United States, providing its users with the possibility to enjoy the benefits of LTE connectivity on this Windows Phone 8 handset as well, though it all comes with a price, it seems.

The wireless carrier’s flavor of the new mobile phone will hit shelves with lower battery performance than the International version, at least this is what Nokia’s own website shows. Lumia 920 will offer 9 hours of talk time at AT&T, 320 hours of standby and 52 hours of music playback, compared to 10h, 400h and 67h touted for the international flavor, WPCentral has found out.

Moreover, it seems that Lumia 820’s battery suffered a downgrade as well, with 7.5h of talk time, 260h of standby and 43h of music playback, compared to 8h, 330h and 55h, respectively.

AT&T Nokia Lumia 920
Image credits to Nokia

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HP ProLiant Servers Smash Performance Record With AMD Processors

Advanced Micro Devices wants today to be a special day, and though the Hondo Z-60 APU should well enough offset NVIDIA's release of the GeForce GTX 650 Ti, it never hurts to have another ace up one's sleeve.

As it happens, AMD does, indeed, have one last ace: HP's ProLiant BL465c Gen8 servers, based on the Opteron 6200 processor series. The system, as the highest volume selling blade in the world, achieved a score of 59.99 at 62 tiles, 40 percent better than the previous record of 42.79 at 36 tiles. For those who don't know, VMmark is a free software tool that data center administrators can use to measure the performance and scalability of virtualization platforms. "The new VMware benchmark is a further indication that AMD Opteron processors are ideally suited for virtualization," said Suresh Gopalakrishnan, corporate vice president and general manager of Servers, AMD. "Servers using high core-count AMD Opteron 6200 series processors provide outstanding performance, reliability, scalability and affordable efficiency for virtualized IT environments and cloud computing."

HP's ProLiant BL465c Gen8 servers have two 16-core AMD Opteron 6278 processors each, leading to 496 VMs (virtual machines) with an average of 31 VMs per blade and, thus a cost of $371 / 285-371 Euro per VM. That means a 72% increase in the number of virtual machines, something that all workloads, from client to cloud, will benefit from. Furthermore, the capital expense (capex) is reduced by up to 30 percent versus comparable solutions, thanks to the higher price/performance ratio. Taking into account VMmark 2.1 benchmarks of high-end systems published earlier, the saving can be of $130,000 / 100,100 -130,000 Euro per server rack. AMD will showcase the virtualization servers at VMworld 2012 until October 12 (Barcelona's Fira Barcelona Gran Via, Spain), alongside the SeaMicro SM15000 server and other things.

HP ProLiant BL465c Gen8 server
Image credits to HP

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Samsung Made 10-Inch Google Nexus Tablet, Has 2560 x 1600 Resolution

The contest for performance and quality on the tablet market has already catapulted 10.1-inch displays to resolutions beyond that of most monitors and TVs, but there isn't much we can do about it.

Even Google knows this, and they don't seem to have any qualms about one-upping Apple, the company that started all this. Since the third-generation iPad has a 9.7-inch display, nicknamed Retina, with a resolution of 2048 x 1536 (264 pixels per inch), Google has decided, according to CNET, to launch a slate with a 2560 x 1600 screen of 10.1 inches.

It will bear the Google Nexus brand but, unlike the Nexus 7, it will be fashioned by Samsung, whose brand will sit on the slate, next to Google's own. This arrangement is similar to the Nexus Smartphone deal. We don't know the price but, since it will be a high-end device, we know for sure we can't afford to hope for the $199 / 199 Euro of the Nexus 7.

Google Nexus 7 tablet
Image credits to Google

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iPad Mini Images Leak

In the days leading up to a rumored Apple event for an even more rumored Apple product, Aussie Sonny Dickson, a researcher for 9to5Mac, has released photos on his Twitter and Instagram purporting to show the new iPad mini.

Reported to issue press invitations tomorrow for an event to be held later this month, Apple Inc. is said to be coming out with a new version of its popular iPad, this time sporting a 7.85-inch display, the processor from the iPad 2, and the new Lightning connector. Images published by Sonny Dickson seem to show the tablet’s finalized design. Everything in the photos is consistent with the latest hardware leaks but, as usual, nothing is confirmed until Tim Cook & Co. lift the cloth off the device on stage. The relatively short gallery of photos below shows the iPad mini alongside existing (current-selling) Apple products, including the third-generation iPad and the iPhone 5. To be noted that Sonny Dickson has previously made accurate leaks for the aforementioned Mac-centric publication, though these images fail to make an impression on us.

So far, there have been no leaks showing the iPad mini actually switched on, leading us to believe that the device shown in these photos may well be a mockup. However, there has been tremendous buzz in the tech industry regarding Apple’s plans to take the lion’s share of the tablet market with this device – enough to make this rumor one of the hottest this year. The Cupertino, California-based computer giant is said to be planning a siege on the tablet industry by releasing a low-cost tablet running its intuitive iOS operating system.

Apple so far has fallen short in providing options for low-budged pockets. That may change later this month, if this rumor pans out.

Purported iPad mini leak
Images credits to Sonny Dickson

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Latest iPhone 5 Issue: Screen Flickering

It’s almost as if the iPhone 5 has become the hottest target for critics all over the web, mostly thanks to Apple’s success (bound to draw some negative attention from rivals), but also thanks to some real issues with the handset.

The latest such issue is being reported by Mashable whose staff has been able to reproduce a screen flickering bug that occurs on the phone’s software-based virtual keyboard. The problem does seem to be widespread. The report says the issue has been experienced by several iPhone 5 owners, and there’s a thread over at Apple Support Communities that attests this claim. The flickering mostly occurs when users visit the App Store on their handsets and bring up the keyboard for a search. The video below shows the bug in action. One customer trying to describe the bug on Apple’s forum, says, “When I enter my password in the app store, lines begin to flicker across rows of the keyboard.” The user then links to a YouTube video for evidence, adding “This has happened on my last two visits to the app store. The first two or three times there was no problem. This is the only context in which I observe the flickering keyboard.”

“I've noticed the same thing a few times when entering my password in the App Store,” writes another disgruntled customer. “Also, one time when I opened a folder there appeared to be several lines on the screen that didn't get redrawn correctly. This lead to a similar looking sort of glitch,” said this person, identified as seanfrommalvern on Apple’s forums. The thread in question has gotten 190 replies (at the time of writing) and right now it stands tall with 11715 views. Safe to say the problem is there, and Apple will most certainly have to patch it in the next iOS update.

iOS keyboard flickering
Image credits to xarthan on Youtube

Static or lines on my iPhone 5 keyboard. Software or hardware?
Video credits to Xartan

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BlackBerry 10 Handsets Only in March 2013

Canadian mobile phone maker Research In Motion is gearing up for the release of its new BlackBerry 10 operating system, as well as of new handsets running under the platform, yet it seems that we might not see them made available for another half a year.

The company has already confirmed plans to launch its new devices in the first quarter of the next year, claiming that the OS wouldn’t have been ready for a late 2012 release, yet it appears that it might have actually delayed the release a bit more than expected. Many have hoped that the handset vendor would be capable of delivering the new phones in early 2013, maybe even January, yet Jefferies analyst Peter Misek suggested in a research note that Forbes has seen that March 2013 is the most likely release timeframe for the BlackBerry 10 devices. “We had hoped for a January launch but now see a March launch as more likely,” the analyst reportedly wrote in said note. “Also, our checks point to a tough November quarter, with replenishment rates decreasing as channel partners are cautious on holding RIM inventory. We think the business uncertainty means parties are unlikely to acquire or license from RIM until BB10 launches.”

RIM’s operating system has been losing a lot of market share lately to rivals such as Android and iOS, and has even started to be challenged by Microsoft’s Windows Phone platform, all pointing to rough times lying ahead for the company. However, Misek suggests that BlackBerry 10 has a great potential of becoming the third mobile operating system in the world, provided that RIM manages to convince smartphone makers to license it for use on their devices. The vendor has said before that it would be willing to have the platform licensed to third parties, and even said that it is ready for that, but no details on a possible deal with phone makers have been provided as of yet.

In the meantime, however, enthusiasts are hoping that RIM will manage to deliver on the promise of highly appealing new smartphones powered by the new OS, and are looking forward for products that will indeed challenge Android and iOS at the high end of the market. Recent leaks suggested that only mid-level BB10 smartphones will be released in the beginning of the next year, but that RIM also has high-end handsets in the pipeline, most probably set to hit shelves soon after the initial launch.

BlackBerry 10 handsets only in March next year
Image credits to CrackBerry

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Nokia Releases Fixed Nokia Music for Belle FP2

Today, Finnish mobile phone maker Nokia has made available for download a new flavor of the Nokia Music application for devices running under the Belle FP2 operating system.

The platform was made available for download last week for the company’s 808 PureView handsets, yet it was pulled shortly after, due to a series of issues, one of which caused Nokia Music to stop working. As it turns out, the company has managed to find the problem and fix it, and is now making an updated flavor of the Nokia Music application available for Belle FP2 users.

Those who would like to grab it should either go to the Nokia Update app on their phones and search for it, or connect the device to a PC and fire up the Nokia Suite desktop software to find it.

Nokia Music update available for Belle FP2 handsets
Images credits to UnleashThePhones

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Gigabyte GTX 650 Ti WindForce OC 1GB Graphics Adapter

We almost skipped this product entirely, believing it was the same as the video board we wrote about yesterday (October 8, 2012), but it really is a different card.

Called GeForce GTX 650 Ti OC 1GB (part number GV-N65TOC-1GI), it is quite similar, but only has 1 GB of GDDR5 VRAM instead of two, and the single-fan WindForce cooler. That's what allows it to sell for 145.32 Euro / $145, instead of 169 Euro / $169. Spec-wise, the board isn't all that unusual, though with the GPU running at 1032 MHz (faster than the stock 928 MHz) and the memory at 5.4 GHz (over 128-bit interface), it is faster than most other GTX 650 Ti models.

That said, Gigabyte tossed in its Ultra Durable components too (Ferrite Core Choke, Low RDS on MOSFET, All-Solid Capacitors), for extra endurance. Only pre-orders can be set for now, but shipments should start soon.

Gigabyte GTX 650 Ti WindForce OC 1GB
Image credits to Gigabyte

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